Beijing is such a spread-out metropolis that sometimes even long-term local residents may have to consult a map to navigate its constantly changing streets.

But no worries about it. These days, even total strangers can do it without a map, or guidebook at hand.

Chinese volunteers walk under the rain near the main press center of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing on August 14, 2008. [Agencies]

Yes. The volunteers. There are so many of them. Within and outside the venues of the Games. A total of 1.7 million, says the municipal government.

Rain or shine, you will not have difficulty finding people wearing brightly colored polo shirts with Olympic logos waiting to lend a hand. And chances are they may approach you even before you ask to be served.

They are more than ready to help.

Many guests from overseas, more or less amazed by such enthusiasm, wondered why, and took pains to find it out.

Truth cannot be simpler - they are ordinary citizens who just want to do their bit for the Games, and being a volunteer is their best chance to take part.

Some may think the Chinese are placing too much on the Games. But things become different when seen from the Chinese angle. Playing host to the world's most celebrated sports event is a golden chance for outsiders to see the real China.

Forget about politics. The government here did call on the people to volunteer. No one was obliged to stand out. But a lot more than 1.7 million had applied to be enlisted.

Do not tell us the so-called "Bird's Nest Generation", a rather confusing new term referring to the 20-somethings volunteering at the Olympic venues, work for anything political. They could not care less about that. Not a long time ago, they carried a collective label as indifferent onlookers.

Just like the grandpas and grandmas volunteering in their own neighborhoods, they just want to make things easier for guests from afar. Many interviewers have come back from them with strikingly similar answers - they volunteered to help overseas friends to know their country better.

Many from outside the country have felt the hospitality, and seen a China more or less different from their previous knowledge.

The Olympics has a mission to promote understanding across political and cultural borderlines. And volunteers make the process easier and more enjoyable.

Let us praise the volunteers.